We, his fans, can feel reassured that Tiger is a changed man because…well, because he says he is! And if it’s good enough for Nike, it should be good enough for us

Note: After I posted this, Nike blocked the commercial on YouTube. Here is the text of the commercial.

The voice of Earl Woods: Tiger – I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are – and, did you learn anything.
The image of Tiger’s face is then replaced by the Nike swoosh.
*****************************

This commercial is creepy. It’s slimy and exploitive. I can’t imagine who thought this was a good idea. This commercial makes me like Tiger Woods less than I liked him a week ago. It makes me like Nike less than I did a week ago. And I was not overfond of either of them last week.

Yes, I know that Jesus said he who is without sin should cast the first stone. Of course, we don’t stone adulterers in America these days. In fact, we barely notice them most of the time. The only reason Tiger Woods has received so much attention is that he didn’t seem like “that kind of guy”. We somehow bought his public image, which made him seem like a person of dignity and self-control. So we were snookered. Not for the first time, and I’m sure not for the last. But somehow, this commercial makes Tiger seem even worse. What is this video asking of us, the audience? That we all agree that the important thing is that Tiger learned something from this experience? That we pity him, as he stares back at us with his almost-weeping eyes? Perhaps if we decide that he’s suffered enough we can forgive him and put this all behind us. Right? And then we will go buy Nike shoes and the world will be better for it!

This is knock-off redemption at a deep discount. And yet it suits us. It fits the arc we want our celebrities to follow. When they fail to live up to their image we, the people who have made them what they are, deserve our opportunity to condemn them, to castigate them, and then to consult with each other on how they can fix the situation.

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]